Revealed: British Citizens Stripped of Status Then Targeted For Killing

The British government has secretly been stripping citizenship status from British nationals it suspects of terrorism, some of whom were later targeted and killed by drone attacks abroad.

According to an report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and published in the UK’s Independent on Thursday, the investigation “has established that since 2010, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, has revoked the passports of 16 individuals, many of whom are alleged to have had links to militant or terrorist groups.”

Subsequently, at least two of these individuals were targeted and then killed in Somalia by missiles fired from US drones.

At least five of those deprived of their UK nationality by the Coalition were born in Britain, and one man had lived in the country for almost 50 years. Those affected have their passports cancelled, and lose their right to enter the UK – making it very difficult to appeal against the Home Secretary’s decision.

In the US, where controversy has surrounding the targeted killing of US citizens abroad, no attempt was made to strip those individuals of their citizenship prior to their assassination. But the program in the UK, by stripping legal standing prior to targeting, seems to be an attempt to avoid the contentious idea that the government would kill its own citizens without trial or due process.